A Link in the Food Chain
by EquinoxWolf
Summary: Link hasn't been eating well lately and Midna is determined to find out why.


**I originally wanted this story to be a part of my other piece, The Strength of Courage, but I'm doing so many other weird and wonderful things that it just didn't make the cut. However, I could not let this idea simply die, so here it is as a one-shot. Enjoy.**

 **The following is a non-profit fan fiction story. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the property of Nintendo and its respective partners. Please support the official release.**

* * *

 _Roooar-r-r-r!_

Link grimaced as his hand clasped over his stomach. The grumbling noise reverberated off the walls of the recently quiet bedroom. Link's teeth went further on edge at the sound. He prayed that neither Renado, Colin nor any of the others had heard it from within the adjacent rooms.

 _Roooar-r-r-r!_

Discomfort twisted his insides. The ache was reminiscent of an army waging war with itself. No side was winning. All sides were suffering. And the battlefield himself was miserable as a result.

 _Oar-r-r!_

"Shut up," Link murmured in a low growl. He struck his gut softly to push the point, not that the added pain did him any good.

Midna emerged from her companion's shadow. "What is with all that racket? In case you haven't noticed, there are people trying to sleep around here!"

Link turned his head to her, barely able to make out her darkened form in the moonlight. Her one red, uncovered eye was narrow with irritation. Across her chest, her thin arms were folded with the fingers of one hand tapping rhythmically on the bend of the opposite elbow.

"Sorry," Link said glumly, shifting his gaze away.

Midna huffed. "Seriously, what's the matter with you?"

Link gave a shallow shrug. "It's nothing. I'm just a little hungry, that's all."

"That's not what you said to that shaman earlier," Midna said, "right before you left dinner with half your plate uneaten."

Link shuffled in his seat on the bed. His eyes shifted further away from her. He did not want to talk about this. "I told you. It's nothing."

 _ROOOar-r-r-r-r-r-r!_

"Oh, really?" Midna shot in front of Link, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Tonight's not the only time you've skived off on food. You haven't been eating properly for a while now. In fact, I don't recall you eating a full meal since we left the forest."

"Maybe travelling with you has spoiled my appetite," Link said bitterly.

Midna flinched at the harsh words and Link regretted them. "I'm sorry," he said in a small voice. "I didn't mean that."

Midna glared at him for several moments before taking a deep breath. "Another thing I've noticed is that you've only been eating bread and vegetables lately. You never touch meat or anything that's made with it." Then jokingly she added. "Are you allergic or something?"

Link did not match her grin. "Not exactly..."

Midna became serious again. "Then what is it? Cut the nonsense already and just tell me."

A look of confliction tore across Link's face. "Can you promise you won't laugh?"

"I always laugh at you."

With that response, Link turned away. Seeing that her wasn't about to say any more, Midna let out a sigh. "Alright. I promise I won't laugh. Now spill it."

Staring deep into her eye, Link swallowed a couple of times before breathing a sigh himself. "I can't eat meat."

"Pull the other leg. I saw you eat rats when you were a wolf."

"That's part of the reason why I can't," Link stressed. Midna fell silent so he continued. "When I'm in that wolf form... I can understand animals. They talk like we do. They have thoughts and feelings like we do! When I try to eat meat, I can't help but think about the animal it used to be. Who were they? Where did they come from? Do they have a family who'll miss them after they've been cooked on a spit?"

Midna gave him an uneasy look. "I think you're reading too much into this."

"Am I, Midna? Am I?" Link snapped. The volume of his voice rose. "You might be okay with eating a piece of steak, because to you it's just food. But to me, the animal it came from is like another person. To me, it's cannibalism!"

"Animals aren't people, Link!" Midna argued hotly. "We eat them every day because that's how the world works. Heck, the ones we eat also get eaten by wolves. Wolves can probably understand other animals as well, but they always feed on meat. You're a wolf! Eating meat is a part of what you are!"

"What if I don't want it to be a part of me?" Link almost shouted the response. "Explain it however you want, the whole thing still feels wrong to me."

Ready to launch another argument, Midna then thought better of it. Instead, she took a calming breath. "Okay... I can see that that's how you really feel and I'm wasting my time trying to convince you otherwise. But listen to me when I say that this is not a good time to start being a vegetarian."

Somewhat relieved that Midna was no longer attacking his views, Link leaned back against the wall. "And why is that?"

"Every idiot in the world knows that you need meat to keep your strength up," Midna said evenly. "Not only that, we're in a time where food is scarce because monsters are killing farmers and destroying crops. We don't have the freedom or resources for you to try out a meat-free lifestyle."

Link let the words roll over in his mind. Grudgingly, he found that her points made sense. And if he was being honest with himself, he hadn't been feeling all that great for the past week or so. In addition to his constant hunger, Link felt tired and shaky all of the time, and his mood hadn't been much to talk about, either. "So what do you expect me to do?"

"Once we finish gathering the Fused Shadows, you can gorge yourself on carrots and pumpkins as much as you want," Midna answered. "But until then, you need to learn how to eat meat and stomach it."

 _Roooar-r-r-r!_

Link glanced sullenly to his dying gut and sighed. "Alright... I guess if I have to..."

Midna nodded her head once then took on an expression of deep thought. "Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

She flew off towards the door and slipped through the crack under it. Confused, Link waited quietly as his guts tested his patience further. Not long after she left, Midna returned and presented Link with something small and dark. Link took the object and noted its soft, spongy texture.

"What is it?"

"It's dried beef. I got it from the storeroom," Midna explained. Link nearly dropped the food out of shock, but successfully resisted the urge.

"I want you to eat it," Midna added.

Link stared at the beef then to her. "You can't be serious."

Midna frowned. "What did we just talk about? You agreed to this so now you're going to take the first step. Eat that right now and waking every living thing in town with your gut."

 _Oar! Oar-r-r-r!_

Grimacing hard. Link breathed in and brought the beef close to his mouth. His lips parted slowly and his tongue reached towards the meat. At the first taste, Link pulled away, ready to gag. He couldn't do this.

"Eat it." Midna pressed, emphasising both words in a drawling manner.

Swallowing hard, Link inserted the beef into his mouth and bit down. As he chewed, he fought back the thoughts of cattle and the lives they may have lived. Instead, he focused on breaking the food down into a manageable pulp and swallowing it past the point of no return. After finishing the first bite, Link took the next at Midna's insistence. It took a great deal of effort, but he finally managed to get the last piece down.

"How do you feel?" Midna asked.

Link sat hunched over, panting as he tried to keep himself from retching. "Sick," he choked out. "But better."

"You did good," Midna said, feeling that he deserved some recognition for overcoming this personal obstacle. "Hopefully it'll get easier as time goes on."

"Hopefully I don't have to do this for too long," Link added, grabbing his canteen from the pack on his bedside table and drinking deeply from it. The taste in his mouth was quickly washed away.

"Then we'd best get the remaining Shadows as soon as possible," Midna smirked. "Now get some sleep. We need you feeling one-hundred-percent before we head to the Goron Mines."

Link returned the cap onto the canteen and set the container aside. "Okay." He then laid his head down on the pillow and closed his eyes. "Hey, Midna...? Thanks."

"No worries," he heard.

"Goodnight," he said.

There was a slight pause. "Goodnight, Link."

With a small smile, Link then relaxed and allowed his mind to go blank. Sleep came more easily to him, pulling him into the realm of best part was that he no longer felt hungry.

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 **I'm not an expert on what it's like to be a newly-discovered vegetarian, so I apologise if I didn't quite hit the nail on the head with this story. I don't intend to spend anymore time with editing, as I just want to get the idea out of my head, but feedback on how I did would still be appreciated.**

 **Thank you for taking the time to read this, and please take a look at some of my other stories if you haven't already.**


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